Gas turbine engines of an aircraft typically include an arrangement of compressors, a combustor, and turbines. The compressors receive air from an air intake and pressurize the air for delivery to the combustor. In the combustor, fuel is injected into the air and ignited resulting in a superheated, high-pressure air-fuel mixture with temperatures in the thousands of degrees. The superheated gas passes from the combustor into the turbines which expand the combustion gases to produce engine thrust.
Gas turbine engines of commercial aircraft are typically mounted to the wings or fuselage by means of an engine strut. For example, an engine strut may extend from an underside of a wing and may be coupled to an engine core of the turbine engine. The engine strut must be capable of transferring high thrust loads to the wing while supporting the relatively large mass of the engine under high g-loads and high aerodynamic loads. In addition, the engine strut must retain its load-carrying capability in the event of a burn-through of the combustor case which may be described as a hole formed in the combustor case by a jet of superheated gas which may emanate from the combustor.
Current engine struts are designed to retain their structural integrity in the event of a burn-through. However, the trend for turbine engine design is increasingly higher pressures and higher temperatures. Such increased pressures and temperatures of future engine designs present the risk of a burn-through that may exceed the capability of the engine strut. One possible solution is to increase the temperature-resisting capability of the engine strut by incorporating high-temperature materials. Unfortunately, such an approach may significantly add to the cost and structural mass of the engine strut.
As can be seen, there exists a need in the art for a system and method for protecting the structural integrity of an engine strut which is cost-effective and lightweight.